The 3-year moving average of HowMuchILikeFireWorks has decreased monotonically since I was a kid. Insofar as I can be said to be politically aware at all, since the dawn of my political awareness (basically college - when I noticed that politicking was something that people my age did, as opposed to thinking it the activity of people much older and untouchable) I've found them almost soporofic. Last night for Boston's famous 4th of July fireworks display I celebrated with a bottle of bourbon and the company of plenty of friends, but here's what the fireworks left me thinking, and yes these are perhaps old jokes by now but whatever:
- The sky over Baghdad looks like this year-round, dunnit?
- Modern country music suffers from an aesthetic poverty isomorphic to that of modern hip hop.
- It's also wildly inappropriate for accompanying fireworks.
- Americans really love to watch shit blow up, don't they? As long as it's, y'know, NIMBY. Same as most everything else they love.
- Telling jokes about 'Thank you to acid!' during the fireworks is only cool if you're actually on acid.
- Probably it's people in general who like to watch shit blow up. Though I can't imagine last night's show going over as well in many other parts of world - the cock-waving jingoism and faux-macho military hardware act notwithstanding, there's just something tawdry about this ostentatious display of Fire and Light when it's so untouchable and sanctioned and one-off. There's nothing organic about this celebration, and it has absolutely nothing to do with a shared sense of history and hard-won liberty.
- The experience is a lot more exciting if you have a decent stereo. We didn't. Sigh.
- Freedom, democracy, bombs! Sweet! I mean there's a real 'broad side of the barn' feel to comments about Americans' pathetic fascination with displays of military might and pyrotechnics. In a country where we pride ourselves on the non-artiness of our film tradition (Hollywood film arose from a populist roadshow/comedy tradition distinct from the cosmopolitan, transitional-media vibe of early Euro cinema - the Europeans inherited many norms from their theatrical tradition, but American movies started out a lot more indie rock style), it's embarrassing that the thrill of watching fireworks so closely approximates the thrill of our bestselling films (how many readers saw Titanic more than once?). Last night John Williams conducted the Pops in a performance of the original Star Wars concert suite, and it was the most perfect thing (not just because it's his signature concert tune): the theme to that film remains one of the most universal melodies among people my age. A film score. About interplanetary war, black-and-white heroes and villains, and the triumph of simple spirituality over intellectualism and technocracy (plus a handy illustration of the value of Shooting First). No wonder we have such a hardon for that film 28 years on: it speaks to today's ruling class temperament! And the other classes? Well, we've got hundreds of years of experience at sitting there and taking it.
- Fire pretty, music loud!
And to the police and the state of Massachusetts with their strict enforcement of puritanical, draconian laws fundamentally antithetical to the spirit of yesterday's 'celebration': to hell with you. Thanks for the fire, I suppose, and the people of Cambridge and Boston who did not quite make it to the show on account of working, not having a home, etc. ... well, they thank you for the fire as well. You can't feed it to your kids but still everybody knows it's so goddamn awesome.
